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KY-Sen: Johnny Doesn't Know

Wed Jan 28, 2009 at 3:36 PM EST

A day after Sen. Jim Bunning insisted he would seek a third term, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee said he still wasn't sure whether the Kentucky Republican would actually run.

"I don't think he's made a decision on whether to run," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), head of the NRSC. "We're working with Sen. Bunning now to provide him all the information he needs in order to make that decision."

Bunning's response: "he's either deaf or he didn't listen very well."

This gives me a serious case of the giggles, as I can only imagine that Big John's "imformation" being shared with the sun-ravaged mummy husk that is Jim Bunning can only be gruesome polling memos and other not-so-subtle suggestions that he pack it in rather than go for another term.

More:

McConnell "had a lapse of memory when he was speaking to the press club last week when he said he didn't know what my intentions were," Bunning told Kentucky reporters Tuesday, according to the website Bluegrass Politics. "Whatever Mitch says is whatever he says. He's the leader of the pack and he can say whatever he wants and get away with it."

Wow, I haven't seen a Senator thrown under the bus like this since Mark Dayton.

And even then I don't think the Ds were blabbing to the press like this.

This is hilarious. They're willing to just destroy him in the press, undercut him humiliatingly, until he takes the hint and leaves.

And you may have thought Cornyn was referring to polling memos; I thought he was referring to horse heads. "Bunning doesn't really know all of the relevant facts yet... but after I have a little chat with him hopefully he'll understand what the stakes are. I know he loves his family and his nice comfortable home, so I'm sure he'll make the right choice."

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And hilarious and tacky as this is, Cornyn is at least doing his job. Liddy Dole wouldn't have done this. John Ensign would have looked pathetic if he tried. Throwing Bunning off a cliff is a requirement if you really want to run this cycle well. I HATE saying this, but I guess I respect him for that.

Hopefully it will blow up in his face somehow or other. They must be confident that Bunning can't hurt them back, even if he wanted to.

As much as I want Republicans to get badly beaten this cycle, as plenty of the seats could be ours for decades without too much trouble, I kind of hope Cornyn's tenure is not viewed as a complete disaster. Maybe he succeeds in winning Illinois, only for the Republican Senator-elect to be found to have starred in numerous graphic horse-porn films. Something like that.

Because if you act like a hardass and lose, nobody likes you for it. But if you get some success, people respect you for trying and you move on to better things. And Cornyn is dumb enough that we definitely want him moving on to better things.

For the long term health of the Senate we need McConnell out of leadership soon, for Kyl to follow swiftly and for a Cornyn-type to take over. A stupid minority leader is a minority leader we can work with.

Maybe a Dick Lugar type. Someone with different views that properly represents a significant slice of the country, but isn't a moral monster or cynical manipulator and is willing to work in good faith.

Since we won't likely get that though, the next best thing is indeed a stupid moral monster. Because smart monsters, like McConnell and Jeb, are dangerous.

Basically everyone in the GOP Senate leadership or those considered up and comers are far-right nutters. Jon Kyl, John Ensign, Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, John Thune and Jim DeMint. That's the current and future of their party in the Senate. The old guard of honest and sane republicans like Lugar, Grassley, Hatch (ya, he's moderate by UT standards), and Specter are all nearing the end of their careers. And you can be sure the GOP nominates extremist nutters for those seats when they're gone, adding to the GOP's demise.

That's an interesting point. If the Senate GOP did want to take a turn to the center in 2011 or so, who would they turn to?

Lamar Alexander and Lindsay Graham come to mind. I don't know anything about Mike Johanns. And John Thune is smart enough to move center if he needed to. He's not a true-believing conservative dimwit like John Cornyn.

But it's true that they don't have a lot of obvious leaders left in the centrist side of the caucus. John Warner, Dick Lugar, George Voinovich, Arlen Specter, John McCain, Chuck Hagel, Lincoln Chafee, Mike DeWine are all gone or going.

The Tennessee Senators are probably their best hope for future leadership. Lindsay Graham ain't never gonna be leader.

If he were a decade younger, Orrin Hatch would be an excellent candidate for a leadership position. A principled conservative who isnt batshit crazy but Rush wouldnt allow someone so close to Ted Kennedy in charge of the Republican Caucus.

But it could really come back to backfire on the GOP. For two reasons, really. Bunning is so crazy, stubborn and combatitive (and probably extremely competitive...hes a HOF baseball pitcher and 'successful' politician) that all of this the GOP leadership is doing could make him want to run even more. Not just for himself and his ideology and political goals..but to give the finger to leadership. And, should he indeed run...all this will make him even more vulnerable. You can bet Menendez and others will remind every single swing voter and potential swing voter that even the GOP doesnt want Bunning. Why vote to re-elect someone when even his own party doesnt want his ass around? And you know, for a while, it appeared Bunning had gotten past his 'sanity issues'. But the last year or so he seems to have time traveled back to 2004. Well, his sanity, anyway.